TRANSCRIPT

WW - Wes[ley] Washington, interviewee / LR - Lyn Royce, interviewer

LR: Now you talked about having a coal bag, you said you went to get the, you went, you had an icebox...

WW: Yeah.

LR: ...so the ice, the ice man brought the ice to you?

WW: Yes, Richard's Ice.

LR: Okay.

WW: Richard's Ice. Okay. Another thing too? We would, uh... My Dad, my Dad and I, my Dad and I... I was the pet of the family, I was the pet. So we, we'd turn around and we'd go down to Centre Street; Centre Street and Ferry Street. And my Dad and I would take bags, coal bags. We'd walk down the tracks, walk down the tracks, trains comin'. The train guy, he know, he knew we were poor. He'd turn around and take the big scoop shovel, and throw coal, soft coal; he'd throw soft , soft coal, off, off, on the tracks. And then my Dad would come, we'd pick it up and we'd go home.

LR: So that's how you got your coal to heat.

WW: That's right.

LR: Wow.

WW: Yes.

LR: Did ya, did ya have enough to stay warm?

WW: Oh yeah. Yeah. Because then we'd have some wood too.

LR: Okay, okay.

WW: Yeah.

LR: Okay. So you, so you had that; so you had the icebox; so that's how you got the coal, um, and you said you used the coal bags to go get the bones...

WW: Mhmm.

LR: Did ya... What about things like milk and bread, you know, did you, you said you had a big garden, did you have animals?

WW: Oh yes! We had pigs; we had pigs and chickens and, uh, uh, chickens, pigs, and the pigs, big pigs, maybe 2 - 300 pounds; and they'd, sometimes we'd have 'em all blocked in and they'd sometime break out and my, and run down the street, well, the street, the roads weren't as good as they are today. 'An, 'n, 'n my Mum would say, 'Go get the pig!' And 7 of us would go. And, and my brother, Cliff and Edwin, put a rope around its neck and we'd bring it back by its tail; and walk it on back home. And then my Dad would turn around, um, with the little piglets, he'd turn around and butcher some, butcher some t'eat? And, and then we had chickens. We had a lot of chickens. And they'd lay the eggs and my Dad, one time, I never forgot it and I told, told my daughter Pauline, and, and my wife laughs about it today, Debbie, I, she says, 'Tamie;' my chicken, Tamie. I had a chicken, Tamie. I never forgot it. Uh, my mother used to make dumplin's; dumplin's; okay? And I, one, one, one, one day we turn around and I looked, and I couldn't find Tamie. And my Dad, my Dad turned around, and he says, 'I'll, we'll look around for it.' We looked all through... Mrs Scot's property, uh, she had fruit farms and all that. And we'd call, I'd call, 'Tamie! Ta-mie!' I never seen Tamie no; my Dad wrung its neck, and cleaned it and we ate it. And we didn't even know, she maybe had 4 chickens. We'd wring the chickens' neck. Clean it and, and have the dumplins 'n, and, and, uh, and, and chicken. Yeah...

LR: Tough when it's your pet... oh boy...

WW: Yeah; yeah. But I never did find 'im.